Newburyport

Lori Solazzo

“This year is my first year as a Mentor Teacher Leader, and as such I am very excited about working with my co-leader to continue building a mentoring program that is supportive, meaningful, differentiated, inspiring, and most importantly allows for growth.”

I grew up “teaching” in a full-sized classroom in the basement of my house.  Complete with student desks, a large chalkboard mounted on the wall, a teacher’s desk, and a multitude of student/teacher editions from a variety of content areas.  Most of the time I played the student because naturally my two older sisters wouldn’t give me a turn, but I always found time to be the teacher (even if it was for pretend students).  We’d spend hours in that classroom pretending to be the people who taught us 180 days/year.  We immitated our teacher’s behaviors, repeated the words they used, and treated our “students” the way they treated us.  I limited memories of assignments or projects I did over my 20+ years of schooling, but I can still name most, if not all, of the teachers who impacted my life.  It wasn’t truly until I became a teacher (surprisingly, all three of us grew up to be teachers) that I came to the realization what a tremendous role we play in our student’s lives.

I’ve been teaching at Newburyport High School for the past 16 years and, as I tell my students, “I’m a lifer” because I don’t see myself ever changing occupations or schools.  For the first ten to twelve years I immersed myself in our students lives through coaching multiple sports, advising student groups, chaperoning trips/events, etc etc.  Currently, I have a three and four year old at home and so my husband/children are now where I immerse myself.  This transition/stage of my life has left me wondering how I can still make an impact and be part of nurturing our school culture (beyond my classroom walls) with less time and the added responsibilities/stresses that come with raising a family.  Mentoring has fulfilled this need to stay involved and make an impact.  I’ve mentored four teachers over the years and each experience has left me feeling like I can do more.  Now, as a mentor teacher leader my goal is to help build a strong support system and sense of community for our teachers which will in turn impact all students in our school.